


if you want to cross the bridge then you’ve got to pay the toll

by amsves



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Gen, Lelouch is kind of an asshole, Mermaids, they're all mermaids woo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 09:52:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10739277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amsves/pseuds/amsves
Summary: Nunnally steeled her resolve and carried on. She couldn’t be deterred by the (admittedly very spooky; the witch had done an excellent job in discouraging any half-hearted visitors) atmosphere. This was too important.





	if you want to cross the bridge then you’ve got to pay the toll

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from the Little Mermaid, but I like the Jonas Brothers cover better. You can listen [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3jaMKb8bAo), and it's also the recommended listening for this fic.

Nunnally shivered as she swam closer to the sea witch’s cave. The water in the surrounding area abruptly dipped in temperature, and became so murky that she could barely see ten feet in front of her. Almost no light filtered in from above.  
  
Nunnally steeled her resolve and carried on. She couldn’t be deterred by the (admittedly very spooky; the witch had done an excellent job in discouraging any half-hearted visitors) atmosphere. This was too important.  
  
She all but bumped into the cave when it came into view. It looked like any other, really, save for the undeniably menacing aura surrounding it, and the two pairs of glowing eyes, one golden, one emerald, gazing back at her, unblinking. _So_ , she thought to herself, _I’m in the right place_.  
  
“Um,” she started, suddenly more nervous than before, “I’m here to see the sea witch?” It came out as a question.  
  
“You’re here to see the sea witch?” the golden eyes echoed back. They approached her, and the body of an eel came into view. The eel turned to face its companion. “Do you think she’s here to see the sea witch?”  
  
“Well, that’s what she said,” the green eyes, which also belonged to an eel, responded. “Didn’t you hear her?”  
  
If eels could shrug, that’s what the first eel did. “Well, she didn’t sound very sure of herself. Tell me, Princess Nunnally,” the eyes turned back to face her, and Nunnally had the distinct impression that it could stare into her mind and read her thoughts. “Are you sure?”  
  
Nunnally clenched her fists. “Absolutely.”  
  
“Well, then. You may follow us.”  
  
The two eels led the way down a twisting, tortuous path deep into the cave. The walls were sharp, studded with broken shells and fragments of rocks, and at times it narrowed so severely that a few of Nunnally’s lovely pink scales snagged on the sides. A few ripped right off, and she yelped.  
  
“Shh,” chided the first eel. “If you’re having second thoughts, you can always turn back now.”  
  
“No way,” Nunnally retorted. “I have to see the witch.”  
  
At long last, they reached the end of the tunnel. Nunnally was so disoriented she might as well have been blindfolded for the journey. They’d passed so many tunnels and forks that she’d never be able to leave without the help of the eels.  
  
Which, of course, was intentional. If a merfolk made it all the way to the witch’s chamber, they’d sealed their own fate.  
  
The tunnel opened up into a remarkable cavern, much more spacious than Nunnally had been expecting, and certainly taller. Shelves stretched up out of sight, each chock full of jars filled with various potions and body parts. Nunnally shuddered and looked down to avoid the jar of eyeballs she’d accidentally locked eyes with, and immediately regretted it. There was no floor beneath her. Rather, the cavern looked to be as deep as it was tall, shelves descending down into total darkness.  
  
Nunnally focused her eyes on the green-eyed eel, who flicked its tail towards the far end of the room.  
  
And there, Nunnally could see the sea witch.  
  
Tall, lithe, and pale like the sun had never penetrated the darkness of the cave, the sea witch certainly cut a formidable figure. Instead of a tail, eight inky black tentacles blossomed forward. Equally dark hair tumbled down and swirled around in the water around the witch’s face, obscuring Nunnally’s view.  
  
But it was no matter. She knew who it was.  
  
“Lelouch?” she ventured, voice quavering. The size of the cavern created quite an echo, and the name ricocheted off of the stone walls, each reiteration less certain than before.  
  
The witch ran a spindly hand through the cloud of ebony hair twisting in the current, and finally, after three long months, Nunnally could see the face of her beloved brother.  
  
“The Princess Nunnally,” he drawled, faux-politeness dripping from his words. “My, if this isn’t a surprise.”  
  
“I need something from you,” she stated, more firmly than before now that her suspicions had been confirmed.  
  
Lelouch smirked. “So curt, Princess. And here I’d thought you’d come to reminisce with me.” He trailed his fingers down the spine of one of the eels. “Suzaku, C.C., you can come out now. The ruse is up.”  
  
Nunnally threw her hands up to cover her eyes as the cavern exploded in light. When she blinked them open again, two figures she’d known her whole life swam in front of her. “You? But … how? You two died in the coup.”  
  
“Lelouch,” C.C. chastised, “She hadn’t figured it out yet!”  
  
“I’m rather hurt, Nunnally,” Suzaku added. “To think that after all that time we spent together, you couldn’t recognize me!”  
  
“You’re supposed to be dead,” she said again, disbelief coloring her voice.  
  
“Please, Princess, have more faith in them.” Lelouch swam forward, halting only a few inches from Nunnally’s face. “So? You need something from me, or so you say.”  
  
“Yes.” Nunnally took a deep breath. “I want—”  
  
“To re-establish the Special Zone,” Lelouch finished. Nunnally blinked in surprise, and Lelouch waved a hand. “We’ve been watching you ever since I was exiled. What, did you think I’d leave my precious sister alone?” Lelouch turned his back to her. “I must warn you, Princess, you’re crossing a plethora of metaphorical lines right now. No one is to speak to me, especially not a member of the Royal family. And to think you’re asking me for a favor! Well, let’s just say,” Nunnally tried not to flinch as Lelouch trailed the tip of a tentacle down her cheek, “You might end up joining me here in my own private Hell.”  
  
“I’m well aware of the risks, brother. But this is something only you can do. Please, won’t you help me?”  
  
“But of course, dearest sister of mine.” Lelouch swam to one of his shelves and started pulling jars off. “Oh, but before I do, I should tell you that the price will be steep.”  
  
“Price?” Nunnally echoed, unsure.  
  
“But of course,” Lelouch replied, mixing a half pound of oysters into his cauldron (when did that get there…?). “I’d never stay in business if I helped everyone for free.”  
  
“Of course, but I just thought …” Nunnally trailed off, embarrassed.  
  
“You thought I’d do it out of the kindness of my heart?” Lelouch guessed. “Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, Princess, but I don’t give anyone special favors anymore. Not since my friends stood by and watched me be publicly disgraced, disowned, and banished from the empire after the coup. No, I’ve learned since then that trust is worthless, and the only good arrangement is one that’s payed upfront. Friends will hang you out to dry, but business partners have the decency to follow through.” He threw something into the cauldron, and a flash of pink light billowed up.  
  
“I didn’t bring any money,” she admitted.  
  
Lelouch scoffed. “Money is worthless when you have nowhere to spend it. No, I want something different from you. What I want from you is …” he smirked, and fear struck Nunnally’s heart, because her brother’s face should never look that malicious, “Your sight.”  
  
Nunnally gasped, but Lelouch was quick to continue. “We all have to make sacrifices sometimes, Princess. And besides, isn’t it for a good cause? It’s for the Special Zone, after all. Euphemia would have done it without a moment’s hesitation,” he added.  
  
That was the final nail in the coffin. Nunnally couldn’t back down now, and even if she tried, she doubted that C.C. and Suzaku would show her out. She’d wander the maze of tunnels until she starved.  
  
Lelouch must have seen it on her face, because his smile widened into something truly vindictive. “So, Princess, do we have a contract?”  
  
“What are the terms of this so-called ‘contract,’ treacherous Prince Lelouch?” she countered. If her brother insisted on referring to her by her title, well, two could play at that game, and his was far less kind than hers.  
  
“You’re as sharp as ever, Princess,” Lelouch observed idly. “Frankly, if you’d agreed without asking I’d have been disappointed. C.C., please write this down.” C.C. nodded and swam off to get a sheet of parchment and quill. “Suzaku, stir that potion, will you? It can’t sit for too long.”  
  
C.C. returned, and Lelouch began. “I will give you three days to influence the Emperor. I will draw up a sure-fire strategy to win, if it’s performed correctly. I will also send Suzaku with you, in eel form, of course, for council and for … insurance purposes.” He licked his lips, and Nunnally shuddered. “If he agrees to reinstate the Zone, then I will return your sight to you. If he doesn’t, well …” He didn’t finish his sentence, but Nunnally knew what was implied.  
  
“You’ll keep my sight forever,” she finished, and he held up a finger.  
  
“Almost, Princess, but you’re forgetting something. Those who cannot fulfill the contract are mine forever. Didn’t you notice on your way in?” He made a grand, sweeping arm gesture up towards the higher shelves, where the jars glowed faintly. If she squinted, Nunnally could see what looked like faces in the jars, permanently fixed in expressions of agony.  
  
“You’re despicable,” she snarled. “I can’t believe you! Keeping innocent merfolk in jars like they’re part of some sick collection!”  
  
“But they are, Princess,” Suzaku retorted smoothly, swimming up beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.  
  
“And besides,” C.C. continued, sliding up on Nunnally’s other side, “They’re hardly ‘innocent.’ They made a contract, and they couldn’t fulfill it. They knew the risks. Lelouch didn’t lie to them.”  
  
“Such is the price of hubris,” Lelouch sighed wistfully. “Getting yourself in over your head is bound to end in disaster. I should know,” he added darkly. “But anyways, if they didn’t have the power to fulfill their contract, then they shouldn’t have entered into one in the first place. I have no use for those who break their promises, other than as decoration.”  
  
He took Nunnally’s hands in his own. “So, Princess, I’ll ask again: do we have a contract?”  
  
Nunnally wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all, and at her brother’s vengefulness, but she didn’t. Instead, she simply said, “We do.”  
  
C.C. shoved the parchment in front of her, and Suzaku placed a quill in her hand. “Take a good look around, dearest sister,” Lelouch advised sweetly. “You won’t be seeing much for the next three days.”  
  
While that was the case, Nunnally couldn’t resist closing her eyes as she scrawled her name on the contract, sealing her fate.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> We need more mermaid AUs. Just in general.
> 
> Come scream with me (about Code Geass, mermaids, whatever) on [my tumblr](http://senpai-san.tumblr.com/)


End file.
